Siesta Fiesta 3DS Review
Siesta Fiesta – Tis The Season To Go Snoozing
The Nintendo 3DS is in a bit of a dry spell at the moment with quality retail releases slowing down to a trickle. Since, there hasn’t been a good retail game to play since Tomodachi Life – I decided to head over to the Nintendo eShop to try out some of the many indie titles available for purchase. Searching around the store – I downloaded a particular game that caught my eye with its peculiar title and relatively cheap price tag, and that game was Siesta Fiesta.
Siesta Fiesta is an interesting take on the paddle-and-ball gameplay pioneered by the classic Pong games and the brick-breaking game design. The premise of Siesta Fiesta is quite simple – the goal of the game is to continue to rally the bouncing ball (which is a snoozing person) across dozens of sidescrolling levels while attempting to obtain high scores points by destroying blocks. It sounds simple, right? It must lack depth like the typical mobile game you say! Nope, you’d be mistaken to think this is an iOS type affair – Siesta Fiesta is actually a surprisingly fun and well made game.
You can control the movement of the bed (which in this case serves as the paddle) with the circle pad or with the touchscreen. I found both methods equally responsive in controlling the bed, but I personally stuck to the circle pad as it felt the most natural. My advice is to pick the control option that you are most comfortable with and stick with it for the rest of the game.
Like I mentioned above, the goal of Siesta Fiesta is to maintain a rally by preventing the ball from falling to the ground. The game requires a high level of focus and mindfulness in order to succeed. It’s all about keeping your eye on the ball, predicting the trajectory of the ball and an awareness on the position of the bed. In the beginning, it may take some time to adjust to the games physics and to train your mind to focus on the ball, but gradually as you play for longer the game eventually clicks.
I was impressed on how well the Siesta Fiesta manages to draw you into the game experience. While playing Siesta Fiesta, my head was hunched forward, my eyes fixated onto the screen and I simply could not put down my 3DS. It is a game that demanded my utmost attention and focus. For a game built around a relatively simple concept, Siesta Fiesta manages to do what many games fail to achieve, and that being keeping the player engaged.
A game of this fashion is typically difficult in nature and I would agree for the most part that Siesta Fiesta offers a good challenge. However, if you play with the mindset of survival and simply fixated on making to the finish line rather than going for the high score, then Siesta Fiesta becomes an easy title to beat. Getting the most out of Siesta Fiesta is entirely dependant on how hard you want to push for that high score. Think of it as an investing! The more effort you put into the game will result in a greater, rewarding experience.
A large proportion of the game is made of the sidescrolling levels, but Mojo Bones does break-up the action with the occasion wave-style levels, canon shooting levels, fan levels and the obligatory boss battle at the end of every world – so you will be glad to hear Siesta Fiesta isn’t a one trick pony. The quality of the boss battle is inconsistent to say the least. There are a few exceptionally challenging boss battles like the Twin Alligators and the Pig that can take multiple attempts to beat. On the other hand, the rest of the boss battles are straight forward affairs which involve hitting the respective foe with the ball. To be honest, there is an undeniable sense of inconsistency in Siesta Fiesta particularly with the level designs. For the most part, I found many of the levels engaging, however, in some cases levels felt recycled and lacked an original idea, particularly towards the end of each world. Occasionally, I found myself saying, “seen that, done that” while playing Siesta Fiesta. If I may be so harsh to say that Mojo Bones may have quickly run out of fresh ideas for Siesta Fiesta.
The presentation values of Siesta Fiesta are truly exceptionally. I got a Rayman vibe from the visuals and music. Actually, I am willing to bet that Ubisoft’s platformer was a source of inspiration. The visuals follow a cartoon visual style that exudes a crisp and colorful look. More impressive is the attention to detail added in the foreground and background of each level. I loved watching the flowing motions of the blue waves or how the bubbles cleverly floats to obscure your view. The music is simply sublime. The music comprises of jovial tunes and Mexican themes with high pitch minions singing alongside. I stand by my statement that there is a lot of “Rayman” in Siesta Fiesta, which is not a bad thing at all.
Closing Comments
When it comes to critiquing smaller downloadable titles – I always ask myself “Did I have fun?” and I shall do the same here! Did I have fun while playing Siesta Fiesta? And the answer is an emphatic “Yes.” Siesta Fiesta takes a relatively simple concept and turns it into a thoroughly engaging experience. If you have a few spare dollars laying around in your eShop wallet, then why not give Siesta Fiesta a try? Trust me the game will not disappoint!
